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So did everyone else on the team win? I was kind of unclear about that.

I definitely did like the point of this episode that you should have faith in your team mates to pull through and concentrate on your match to pull through for them.

And while I do love every character in this series, there is just something about Taichi for me, whether he wins or loses I know I am in for something memorable.

But two teams from Tokyo are going to Omi Jingu this year, does that mean Team Chihayafuru will go either way? They are in the finals already correct? Although I do want them to win of course. I feel like the empress watching over them, they are like my children.

I don't know about that. Wasn't the takeway lesson of last year that they were a team, and should support each other? Though yeah, Taichi let it affect him too much.

Well sure and they were a good team before this but I think this was shown in a different way. It's more about trusting your team and you don't always have to worry about them even as the leader. I think that is why Harada said an individual match is a team match and a team match is an individual match. You are playing for the team but you still have to concentrate on your own match.

Although admittedly I don't remember every scene and line from last season so maybe this was conveyed before.

I'm talking about their first regional tournament. They were fighting individually, then observed the other teams, and tried to support each other. And now it's back to fighting individually. But I guess it's just a matter of finding the sweet spot between the extremes.

But I guess it's just a matter of finding the sweet spot between the extremes.

Of course and remember Chihaya did throw the towel at Taichi too, so I think that shows that you are there for your team members when you need to be, but it doesn't have to be a constant worry. You have to have faith in them too. It is all about balance.

I'm talking about their first regional tournament. They were fighting individually, then observed the other teams, and tried to support each other. And now it's back to fighting individually. But I guess it's just a matter of finding the sweet spot between the extremes.

You could also see it as the team dynamic changing as they become stronger, both individually and as a team. When they just started Taichi needed to be more involved with everyone, but now it's time for everyone to fight on their own, even if they're a team.

It doesn't mean Taichi was wrong before or anything. The team just changed, so he needed to adjust to the new team dynamic.

So did everyone else on the team win? I was kind of unclear about that.

Me, too. I was wondering about Kanade and Tsutomu.

I suspect that Taichi feels especially pressured as the "median" player on his team of five. Chihaya and Porky are usually likely to win, while Kanade's and Desk-kun's chances are more like 50-50 or worse. That makes Taichi's performance especially pivotal. Given his background and personality we know that he has problems with the need to succeed. I do think he made some progress on those issues in this episode.

I find it remarkable how anime directors can invest things like board and card games with such drama. The games in Hikaru no Go are also tense affairs. It's not just a result of the direction and pacing of the video, but the musical scoring as well. In some ways the physicality of karuta makes the director's job in this show a bit easier. Watching Chihaya swipe away cards is intrinsically more dramatic than watching Hikaru place a stone on a Go board.

I can't believe I didn't notice that Houko Kuwashima is voicing Arata's mother till this episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

So did everyone else on the team win? I was kind of unclear about that.

The scoreline wasn't announced so we have no idea who won and who didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

But two teams from Tokyo are going to Omi Jingu this year, does that mean Team Chihayafuru will go either way? They are in the finals already correct? Although I do want them to win of course. I feel like the empress watching over them, they are like my children.

Nishida said early in the episode while eating Sumire's home made cookies that they'll be in the nationals if they win the next match. So yes Team Chihayafuru and Hokuo are going to Omi Jingu. So in terms qualification the next match isn't important.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I don't know about that. Wasn't the takeway lesson of last year that they were a team, and should support each other? Though yeah, Taichi let it affect him too much.

All the bad stuff that happened to them last year due to them not being a team happened off the pitch which affected their performance on the pitch.
Taichi kept supporting them on the pitch and Harada disagrees with this.

The opening sequence was fascinating. Arata recalls the magpie bridge from episode 23 of the first season, which connects Chihaya and himself, and thinks they are connected not simply by phone, but by something else. I wonder what he has in mind?

The title poem is #11. Here's Mostow's translation:

O tell her, at least,
that I've rowed out, heading towards
the innumerable isles
of the ocean's wide plain,
you fishing boats of the sea folk!

Mostow notes that the poem is a message to a lover, from a person returning from exile. This of course fits Arata's hopes to return to Tokyo from the isolation of Fukui.

#11 also appears in the OP, as the card Arata takes in his section of the practice sequence. It corresponds to the card Chihaya takes, which is #88. Here's Mostow again:

Due to that single night
of fitful sleep, short as a reed's joint cut at the root,
from Naniwa Bay,
am I to exhaust myself, like the channel-markers,
passing my days in longing?

The lover of Chihaya's poem lives in longing in the memory of a past tryst, just as Chihaya keeps in her heart the memory of playing karuta as children with Taichi and Arata. Arata's poem lets us know he has begun his journey back.

That reminds me. Back when Nishida defeated Taichi and Taichi blamed it on luck - we all agreed it was a low point for him. But he eventually concluded that he lost because he lacked the skill to not win earlier. And all was made better For the more forgiving of us, anyway.

Now, all the women that came with Harada blamed bad luck. And even Harada said that Taichi's refusal to blame luck was holding him back.

I always enjoy reading your postings on the poems used in this show, hyperborealis. Thank you for bringing us these contextual details that would otherwise be lost to non-Japanese speakers like me.

Sorry I can't give you rep any more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Now, all the women that came with Harada blamed bad luck. And even Harada said that Taichi's refusal to blame luck was holding him back.

I'm often struck by the emphasis on luck in anime. Again, as a foreigner, I have drawn the conclusion that luck is viewed as a larger force in one's life by the Japanese than it is here in America where the Horatio Alger myth still retains a lot of power. (You can see it in our political discourse where the right stresses individual achievement while the left stresses the role of community.) Perhaps it has something to do with the Japanese having lived in a highly-stratified society over many centuries, where the luck involved in being born of low or high station determined your lot in life? America is also a stratified society (in economic terms, one of the most compared to other OECD members), but the notion that anyone can succeed through talent and determination remains a dominant cultural theme. This is all just speculation on my part, but I am intrigued by how often even intelligent characters like Harada-sensei attribute outcomes to luck as much as, or even more than, skill.

The opening sequence was fascinating. Arata recalls the magpie bridge from episode 23 of the first season, which connects Chihaya and himself, and thinks they are connected not simply by phone, but by something else. I wonder what he has in mind?

I thought he was referring to their common love and passion for Karuta. This is what unites them.

I always enjoy reading your postings on the poems used in this show, hyperborealis. Thank you for bringing us these contextual details that would otherwise be lost to non-Japanese speakers like me.

Sorry I can't give you rep any more.

I'm often struck by the emphasis on luck in anime. Again, as a foreigner, I have drawn the conclusion that luck is viewed as a larger force in one's life by the Japanese than it is here in America where the Horatio Alger myth still retains a lot of power. (You can see it in our political discourse where the right stresses individual achievement while the left stresses the role of community.) Perhaps it has something to do with the Japanese having lived in a highly-stratified society over many centuries, where the luck involved in being born of low or high station determined your lot in life? America is also a stratified society (in economic terms, one of the most compared to other OECD members), but the notion that anyone can succeed through talent and determination remains a dominant cultural theme. This is all just speculation on my part, but I am intrigued by how often even intelligent characters like Harada-sensei attribute outcomes to luck as much as, or even more than, skill.

In this context, it's easy to see why, though. It's the little things, like which card gets called when, or whether the air conditioning works equally for everyone, or whatever. Things that don't matter when one player's clearly better than the other, but can decide the outcome of a close game - of which I suppose there are many on the way up the ladder. Normally it evens out over the course of a career, but outliers are bound to exist. Heck, I've read there's a correlation between the month of your birth and how good at sports you'll be. If that's not luck, what is it?

Though that wasn't really Harada's point, which was that Taichi's too quick to believe he's losing because the one facing him is better instead of (temporarily) luckier.

That reminds me. Back when Nishida defeated Taichi and Taichi blamed it on luck - we all agreed it was a low point for him. But he eventually concluded that he lost because he lacked the skill to not win earlier. And all was made better For the more forgiving of us, anyway.

Now, all the women that came with Harada blamed bad luck. And even Harada said that Taichi's refusal to blame luck was holding him back.

So what are we supposed to think?

Could it just be that depending on the circumstance Taichi and we the viewers should look at things differently.

Even against Nishida, Taichi is a very good player. We all know that last card was down to luck but I think it was not wrong of Taichi or us to realize that if I had played better earlier it would not have come down to luck. I think in that case it wasn't just that Taichi was questioning his own skill, but wasn't he questioning Nishida's skill as well? Wasn't he saying that Nishida only won because of luck? That was truly unfair to Nishida

However in other circumstances if Taichi is going to continue to doubt himself and his own skill then this isn't a good thing either. I think Harada is saying that Taichi definitely has not just effort but skill as well. It might very well be that as Harada and as those women say that Taichi just isn't in Class A because of "bad luck" but I don't think the message is that luck is the main factor here, I think the message is Taichi has to believe in himself. Even if Taichi loses that it isn't only because he didn't put in enough effort or he just doesn't have the skills. That just isn't true. Taichi might no longer run away from losing but he still needs to believe in himself. He's a great player like the others, he just hasn't had his Class A moment yet but it's not because he isn't good enough.